for me, too... busted spigots and hoses, and orchids in my shed were damaged... really rough.

same here, as the covers came off, the damage was huge! we used quilts and heavy blankets we've been collecting for years and it still is toast.sad to see some really old, beautiful plants looking so bad.

Tell me about it !!!! I live in Englewood, just west of Port Charlotte on the SW gulf coast, but still got creamed. Having just moved into my new mobile home in Feb, I drove down to Homestead in March and planted a big " plantation " of bananas, 3 papaya plants, 2 avocado trees and 4 mango trees. I only covered ( included Christmas tree lights ) the smallest and youngest mango tree, my Nam Doc Mai. Long story short, the covered mango tree was the only one that survived. The 3 remaining mango trees are 7 1/2 ft tall, so not easy to cover, and I thought they'd be able to tough it out. The leaves on all 3 are still on the tree, but are turning a dull, mottled yellow/brown/green. Am keeping my fingers crossed, will wait for 2 months to see how it goes. If they all die like it looks like now, I will drive back down to Homestead and bu the oldest, most mature mango trees possible and start over !
But it is depressing,...so much money, work and TLC,..damn !!!

It is depressing

I lived in Russia for 20 years and have seen plenty cold...But, getting such drastic weather here is so different - instead of going from cold to colder, with all the plants already hibernating, we now facing massive die off of plants...Plants that never got affected before...Even Florida native water fern is all browned up -- gosh, it is beyond depressing.

I have not open the orchid house yet...It has been closed off with a heater in it for more than a week now. Not looking forward to picking in tomorrow.

I uncovered my tangerine, and all the leaves are curled and brown. I'm waiting to see if the leaves drop. It is not always easy to remember - if the leaves drop, the branch is healthy! It is when the leaves don't drop naturally that you know the plant is gone! (or at least that branch)

So, there's a way to feel better (ummm, sort of) about bare branches where we're used to seeing greenery. *sigh*

Same here, except for my 3 foot Key Lime. I wrapped it with far too many Christmas lights and covered it with sheets. It 'appears' to have pulled through with minimal leaf burn. It was in mid-flower when this cold came through - some fruit/buds survived. I guess time will tell, however.

All my flowering vines are leafless sticks.

Hi
I uncovered every thing yesterday and not nearly the disaster I was expecting. But it's still early lol. Even the orchids growing on the carambola tree seem in good shape. Not sure why as I know I had 29 for at least 3 hours
but it was breezy which should stop frost from settling.
The worst is the Thunbergia mysorensis vine ,about 80 percent black but even that I'm confident will regrow.
Have been unable to find any live fish in the marsh garden but most of the plants seem minimmly damaged.
The water garden seems almost untouched but it was heated but couldn't keep the water above 45 in spite of the bubble wrap. Hopefully some of the fish survived ??
My birds seem okay but would not utilize the heater I installed !!! In fact they roosted as far away as possible.lol It was used by some lizards and I think I saved a few ants??? lol
I used the heat producing frost cloth on the Vanda "hedge" but way to early to know results. Doesn't seem to have worked any better than ordinary bed sheets and christmas lights. All the orchids that I could move came into my aquarium room in the house. A couple of Phals, Catts and two epicatts had grown to the wall so were left in place. So far they seem okay also.
Covered the terrestrial orchid bed but the wind removed the coverings so was exposed most of the night.
Was just thinking there's still a lot of winter left!! Please tell me this won't happen yet again???
Usually Feb is my coldest month. gary

Apparently most if not all the trees at our 9a place are ok. Probably 9a plants fared better than 9b because they get a lot more hardening off in the weeks before a deep freeze. Also the main orchard is at the top and side of the highest hill around, so the coldest air settles past, I suspect. Must be because it seems even the sapote survived, which supposedly will not tolerate below 28.

Of course, it will take a while for all the damage to show itself. Our citrus has been through many such events. Probably be fine until an 1895 type freeze comes along.....

I can testify that frost cloth works. Sea World wrapped most of their landscape along Central Florida Parkway and even the annuals are still blooming and looking great as are the plants that Disney wrapped. Of course there is leaf damage to some of the palms but overall things look good. As for my yard I see very minimal damage but time will tell. Just think, we wil be willing to trade for the most humble plants at the next swap. Linda

We had 9 nights at or below freezing for extended periods and while most of the ornamentals and some uncovered fruit trees were damaged the ones that were under cloth and lit fared remarkably well with only slight foliar damage.

Here are the low temps:
1/4 - 30.0
1/5 - 29.7
1/6 - 23.7
1/7 - 24.9
1/8 - 29.1
1/9 - 33.2
1/10 - 28.4
1/11 - 27.7
1/12 - 25.5

Here are some pics of the results of covering and lighting young tropical fruit trees. Notice the areas surrounding where grasses and even native plants are toast...

floridays, Great job with your PVC makeshift shelter, yours fared a lot better than mine. I have quite a bit more damage than you...I did get a lot colder on at least a few of those nights. I've used sheets and Frostcloth and use clothes pins to attached mine, is that what you use? I'm always looking to see if other have better ideas. Thank You for posting your pictures!

Also is Christmas lights the only thing you use for added
heat? Seems to work well for you. My yard has no protection at all...I'm out in the open, which makes it colder in some spots.

i think it depends on where you were if frost cloth works. i work at a big box nursery, frost cloth, heaters, bad breath, nothing stopped the cold. at home, quilts, blankets, car covers, still toast! some very smart person on this gw made me think last week on how far we push the zones. but, come spring, i'll probably do it again.

Puglvr, the ones that were covered and lit (yep, sheets, clothespins and C-9 Christmas bulbs) fared well but those that I did not cover but just lit (C-9 Christmas bulbs) had extensive foliar damage.

I do know we had birdbaths frozen solid on at least two nights and a layer of ice on it all freeze nights...brrr.

I hope your lychees survive, once they get to be about 5 yrs old they seem to do OK. My older one was unlit and uncovered and sustained only very minor foliar damage towards the top of the tree.

Here's a couple of pics of the damage (uncovered but lit):

Toasted Valencia pride

Path - Cogshall on left, covered and lit canistel on right (under frame), fried Glenn towards end

Ice cream mango

Thanks so much floridays for posting the pictures and answering my questions. Some of my trees looks similar to yours and others looks worse than yours,lol...will wait and see what survives come March/April. Trying to be optimistic and hope the tree is still alive and recover even though visually they look "really" bad. Here's hoping for the best for all of us.